Days of Our (School) Lives

It's half-time at the big basketball game but Trish, Joannie, and Crystal ignore their pep squad duties to gossip about the latest surprising developments at their school. The new female teacher seems to have a persistent five o'clock shadow and the English Department has taken over the administration. The new leader, Mr. Dickens, is a Shakespeare fanatic who is in league with the evil custodial staff, who in turn spend their time collecting gum wads and blackmail evidence on the teachers. All the classic conventions of soap operas are here: memory loss, mistaken identities, love triangles, villains and heroes, and even a politically-correct Coke machine thrown in. Each scene ends in melodramatic suspense, complete with long stares and music chords. The plot strands converge on a hilarious exorcism of Shakespeare's ghost and a trial where the hapless Grammar Governor is exposed. Satire, slapstick, puns, and literary allusions combine into a farcical feast of fun.